Breguet

I've been lurking at the 5277 for some time now. The salesman at the Breguet boutique has been lauding the movement for its new mainspring etc... This "new" mainspring boosts the reserves to 96 hours. What puzzles me though is that this movement (the 515dr) is from the same family as the Blancpain/Piguet 11C5 which has always had a 100h power reserve (this is a least 4-5 years old).

Breguet is stepped up to 8 beats per second versus the 6 on the Blancpain, which theoretically allows for a more accurate timepiece. That draws down the power reserve more quickly. The new mainspring allows it to hold the power reserve for 96 hours, up from the 72 would otherwise achieve.

Bill

Indeed! Thanks for pointing it out, I hadn't noticed that. The boutique came back to me saying that Blancpain uses 2 barrels whereas Breguet uses just one.  Hard to see though as two elements in the Breguet's gear train still look very much like barrels.

The movement of this Classique model, in particular its mainsprings, uses a new type of stainless steel with excellent mechanical properties that came out in 2012. This patented material stores more energy in a given volume, which means a greater power reserve and a constant torque for an unvarying rate. This alloy is also ecological, being free of cobalt or beryllium, non-magnetic and stainless. In a further effort to improve the mainspring’s functions, the Swatch Group and Breguet in particular developed an unusual patented design for parts of the barrel, substantially reducing the diameter of the barrel arbor’s core, thereby increasing the mainspring’s length and number of coils. This brings the power reserve of the reference 5277 from 75 to 96 hours. In the long run this invention will be applied to all the watches produced by the Swatch Group brands. The movement is also fitted with a silicon balance spring and an in-line Swiss lever escapement. - See more at: www.dayandnightmagazine.com breguet-amazing-inventions-meet-traditional-skills#sthash.EGEfvZEm.dpuf